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THE HESPERIAN STUDENT.
off to a certain somebody, but that he succeeded in
doing so. Yet in such petty victories as these does
genius originate. Many of us find it much easier to ,
conquer outside circumstances than to succeed in ,
the struggle w'th ourselves. In this struggle our suc
cess may be less than that obtained by those around I
us, but there need be no such thing as an absolute'
failure. The power has been given in a greater or
less degree to all of us "to rise on stepping stones of
our dead selves, to higher things."
&hc Mhtthnt'.'! cr;tt"lnniht
FAUST.
This nin&lcrpicco of the great German poet, Goethe
was the first and last child of his imagination, and wns
written at three different times in Ins eventful life. He
completed it in 1881. The power, depth and subtle ins
fluence of this work are owing perhaps to the length of
time Hint the author occupied in putting the workings ot
his mind, in the formation of a plot, into a complete form.
Frequently throughout the piece Goethe's private opin
ions are subtlely expressed. The lesser lights in the lit.
erary world are satirized unmercifully, but the clothing
of words veils this so completely that a superficial reder
little suspects the hidden fire beneath. The three main
characters are the Hero, Tempter and the Victim, or in
other words, the immortal Faust, cunning Mcphislophclcs
and helpless Mnrgucvitc. Faust was a man well learned
in science but like a true scholar thirsted for knowledge,
desiring to grasp the great ideas of the Universe. Als
though represented as a man advanced in years at the bc
gining, his youth is regained and his spirits revived by
the lively companionship of Mcthistophelcs, the one who
came in the form of a dog and who chanced as if by
magic into a wondering pedagogue.
The wicked Tempter had a great influence over ov
yielding Hero, and he resolved to go wherever Mephistoph
clcs led. It does not seem possible that such oppsitcs
ns strength and weakness could be found so fully devel
oped in the same character The insufllency of human
nature is shown (ortli by this fact although perhaps exag.
gcralcd in the case of Faust. In the midst of his travels
lie met and became infatuated by an unlorrncd maiden,
who wns the very personification of Simplicity. She in
turn regarded him with a feeling akin to worship.- Al.
though heldid not prove true to her, it is believed that he
admired her candor at first. No tongue can describe his
remorse when lie found her crazy in the dungeon-cell and
not willing to follow him. Her heart-rending cries
''Heinrich Ileinrich," pierced his inmost soul. After
searching for what he lackedendeavoring to allny a thirst
hecould not slake he found that the only satisfaction in
life is Lpve. After having found the fountain of pers
petual youth, he, by his own intervention caused that
which was satisfactory to become unsatisfactory. Alas'
the cry of his heart was and we 1 might be "I have studied
Philosophy, Medicine and Theology, but how I stand
a poor fool!" Mcphistophelcs acknowledged that he had
power over the lower world and that troops of black
Angles would come at his bidding. When ho performed
a trick he was aided by a friendly Evil Spirit. The mid
night scenes whero witches in fanlastic array predomi
nate, have a certain woird charm about them shut holds
the ica ler. The story is doubly interesting from the fact
that Faust and Grctchcn are commonplace characters.
Tliore is no excuse for the lack of unity in Faust. Whilst
the render is being transported by the learned sayings of
the Hero, he is suddenly and without ceremony lowered
to n village seone or to bo a spectator of a wilcho's dance.
Still wo may accord to Faust profound thought. In it wo
find every passion stirred and not a fibre of the heart is
untouched. '84.
THE ATTITUDE OF THE QUURQll TOWARDS
THE JIEXA1SSANOE.
The term Church is used in contradistinction to that of
religion, since thiough all times, not evcu excepting tho
present, tho Church has only been a bond uniting inivid
unls, in sympathy through a common aim. Heligion-is
man's faith formulated: the Church, the corporation to
which is entrusted its guardianship. The Church may
be guilty of misdeeds without affecting the principle
which brought it into existence: the principle may work
out transformations n the soul of man, which the Church
afterwards, may attempt to dcslroj'.
The great value of religion has been its tendency to en
large the emotional nature of man. This sympathy with
one's fellow beings, creates an interest in any thing man
has done or may do in the future. This interest is the
one prcemieut featuie of the Renaissance, known ns hu
manism. The cause of this eneigy was to be found ab
stract religion, in the pity and compassion for the suffer
ings of Him, "who was also n man. This love for man
and his works, would naturally look to his greatest a
chicvcmenls for satsfacliou. These were of the intellect,
the intellect of a pagan nation. The good result came
from the scanning of these great woiks with Christain
eyes and Christain sympathy. The method wns christian,
the result pagan nud it is just here that the Church was
antagonistic to the Renaissance. The Church at that
time was not lcligious, it was n mere worldly organiza
tion, the excuse for whose existence was the presrvation of
some great principle, which greed and ambition pre.
vented her from seeing. Her organization was borrowed
from a pagan nation, and her system of theology based
upon a pagan philosophy. Strangely forgetful of the
origin of her outward forms and in the worship of the
latter, losing sight of the divine object, she exchanged
the one for the other and thought divine, that, which wns
but the symbol of divinity
Again, the Church demanded strict obedience to au
thority, while individuality was the glory of the Renaiss
snnce. When one discovered that lie individually pos
sessed a something which the Chinch did not, it caused
a glow of satisfaction and a feeling of exultation, not in
keeping with the demands of the Church. In trutli how
ever, these demands were not tyrannically exacting, since
with nil her faults and linrrowiiess, with the stamp of au
thority upon her lnce and the inquisition at hand, the
Church, in the main, was strangely tolerant. Itnly, the
mother of this Church, and at a time when her political
power was greatest, stood iu advance of all European na
tions in mathematics ami the sciences. Any assumed
antagonism may perhaps, in a measure, exist rather in tho
imagination, than luive existed iu reality, since the Church
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